Who says that young women are shallow and have flea-like attention spans? That's so wrong. The Hunger Games and Twilight are all about love of family, romantic commitment and self-sacrifice. That's WHY they are so popular!
The politicians of this country could learn a thing or two or three from the heroines and heros of both The Hunger Games and the Twilight book and movie series.
While we've watched politicos pander to special interests like Big Oil and Big Money campaign donors, attack women's reproductive rights and get exposed as cheaters, these books celebrate admirable and traditional values.
I'm tired of hearing so-called "serious" people roll their eyes over the literature choices of young women. Especially since these " highbrows" have rarely even read The Hunger Games or Twilight books.
Instead they should be impressed by the strength and courage of the female characters central to these books.
Katniss Everdeen, the 16-year-old key character in The Hunger Games places the safety and well-being of her family, especially her younger sister, Prim, 12, above all else. Not only does she risk her life on a daily basis to illegally hunt to ensure her family doesn't starve, but she makes the ULTIMATE sacrifice.
Katniss volunteers to fight to the death in the violent Hunger Games annual competition in place of Prim, who has been selected in a random draw. She is willing to give her own life to save her sister. How many people are truly willing to do that?
Before she is taken away to the "Capitol" to compete, she begs her hunting companion and BFF Gale to make sure that her family doesn't starve in her absence.
Katniss also places the love of her family and her own independence ahead of romantic love. She is no swooning romantic who spends her time dreaming about a Prince Charming.
No -- she is determined to take her destiny into her own hands and fight to survive for her family and will not be distracted by mere romance.
Later, she chooses to fight for freedom for the people of her district and others, against the tyranny of the cruel rulers in the Capitol.
Which politician or celebrity in real, not literary, life do young women have to look up to today, who has the same strength of their own convictions and morals, but also has the genuine empathy for others that 16-year-old Katniss does? Money, glamour, power or Hermes purses do not motivate her!
Likewise, Bella Swan, the lead character in Twilight, isn't the least bit interested in or motivated by the superficial. She doesn't care about clothes or casual relationships in the least.
She is purely motivated by her unwavering love for Edward Cullen, her parents and her unborn baby.
On multiple occasions, Bella is also prepared to sacrifice her own safety and even life in order to protect her mother, father, Edward, the rest of the Cullen family, and the baby that will be called Renesmee.
She is not interested in sampling multiple sex partners or in partying her nights and days away.
No instead, she is willing to make an old-fashioned commitment to a lifelong eternal marriage, and also to keeping the peace between several warring factions: werewolves, vampires and the Volturi vampires.